The degree of rapidity with which reports

The degree of rapidity with which reports of happenings at the College pass about among Dartmouth alumni has been a matter of frequent comment. It often seems as if there were an unbroken, constantly operating mouth-to-ear line of news transmission from one end of the continent to the other. Indeed, if one chances to encounter a Dartmouth man abroad, it is more than likely that he will forthwith produce a batch of letters and clippings from his pocket in due preparation for an immediate exchange of information from Hanover. And in this way not only news but ideas, comment, and gossip are handed about, and, as they proceed upon their way, sometimes take on strange shapes and malformations. It would be easy, but perhaps unprofitable, to cite examples; for examples would not make clearer the point at issue. That point is that there should be a recognized and authoritative clearing house for alumni opinion, a place where the man who really knows can and will express himself with the certainty that he will not be misquoted and misunderstood, a place, further, where a question of general alumni interest may be publicly asked and publicly answered. It is the desire of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE to provide in its columns such a clearing house. From now on it will be prepared to maintain and edit a regular department of Alumni Opinion, of which the alumni as a whole are cordially invited to make use. There are a good many educational questions, and questions of general college policy enjoying an open airing nowadays; but the persons taking part in the discussion are, for the most part, educators on the one hand, and persons who never saw a college on the other. Just what, for instance, the average alumnus thinks of the much mauled matter of undergraduate scholarship nobody seems to have cared to ascertain. Yet the alumnus who can now, with unprejudiced mind, look back upon his college career is perhaps more likely to give a shrewd and accurate opinion of conditions and causes than is the exasperated teacher or the self-sufficient Philistine. As a starter, then, THE MAGAZINE invites alumni opinion on the general topic of student scholarship. Does the young man of today take any interest in his studies? If not, why not? Is there any relation between conscientious scholarship and professional or business effectiveness ? What means can be found for correcting the evils that are responsible for present unsatisfactory conditions ? In these interrogations, and others that they will suggest, there is material for interesting and valuable discussion.

Seventeen years ago, when President Tucker began his administration at Dartmouth, the small faculty group that he found here contained few, if any, very young men. So it is that, of late years, the College has had to bid sad farewell to one after another of her faithful servants whom death or the weight of advancing years has compelled to lay down their tasks. As the College has grown in numbers and the teaching force has increased, the men of the old regime have occupied a peculiar position of respect and affection in the minds of Dartmouth men. Changes in the younger group seem almost expected; they pass but slightly noted. The modern college teacher, after all, touches the life of an institution at comparatively few points; he meets but a small fraction of the student , body and knows a still smaller fraction. His loyalty is an adjustable thing, easily transferred. He is attached to the college, but he is not a part of its very fibre. But to many generations of students who have climbed the hill to Hanover the older professors, seemed as secure and permanent a feature of Dartmouth as the Old Row, or the elms that shadowed it. They had always been here; always would remain: hence, ever, the news of their going brings a rude shock of surprise and regret, and calls forth the tribute of kindly remembrance. This fall, two men have gone upon the retired list who have served Dartmouth for a quarter of a century or more: Marvin Davis Bisbee, Librarian, and Gabriel Campbell, Stone Professor of .Intellectual and Moral Philosophy.

Professor Bisbee came to Dartmouth in 1886, after several years' experience as preacher and editor. For a time he gave courses in Divinity and in Bibliography, but of late years the demands of a growing library absorbed all his time. A gentle, modest man, he intruded himself but little in the bustling affairs of the College; but he knew and loved his library, and found often his most congenial companionship among its books and among the venerable manuscripts connected with Dartmouth history, which he was tireless in hunting out and collecting. As he leaves the College and the college community, he carries with him the warm good wishes of the many who have known and admired his refined and loyal-hearted personality.

Professor Campbell was not, like Professor Bisbee, a son of Dartmouth. Graduating from Michigan in 1865, he underwent rigorous training in the graduate school of that institution, at Chicago Theological Seminary, and at the University of Berlin. During the Civil War he saw active service as captain of a company of Michigan infantry. Though ordained to the ministry, he early took up the teaching of Philosophy, serving both at Minnesota and at Bowdoin before connecting himself with Dartmouth in 1883. While here, he not only conducted large classes, but contributed largely to philosophical literature. Professor Campbell carried the cool bravery of his war days into the affairs of daily life. He knew deep sorrow, but he has ever fronted the world with serenity and quiet determination. For years he has been a familiar, almost monumental, figure in the village. Now that he seeks a home in a more congenial climate, his dignified and kindly presence will be deeply missed.

The Dartmouth football season is summed up briefly but sufficiently-in the words "poor team work." Of the men as individuals, no criticism can be made: they played clean football and played it with a determination and dogged courage that has won them admiration at home and abroad. But that their effort lacked unity of direction and clear definition of purpose became all too evident before the season closed; the result was inevitable defeat. The blame for this situation is, however, to be found in conditions rather than in persons. ' Under the .old rules, Dartmouth had succeeded in developing a style of play peculiarly her own, so that as graduate coaches succeeded one another, the new one had but to take up the work where his predecessor had left it. The underlying policy remained the same, whatever might be the superficial changes of methods. But of late, simultaneously with rapid alterations in the rules of the game, Dartmouth has been under the necessity of making, each year, considerable changes in her coaching staff. The result has been, as might well have been expected, the substitution of the uncertain for the certain, of the tentative for the well assured. To put it baldly, there is, today, no distinctive Dartmouth football system. Given time, there can be no question that this lack will be supplied, but the task will be no easy one; for it will demand, first the finding of the right man, and second, the loyal backing of his work until he has had opportunity fully to evolve his ideas and put them into operation.

Yet, granting an unsuccessful season from the standpoint of mere athletics, it must be admitted that there-has never been a year when the peculiar qualities of Dartmouth loyalty and sportsmanship have deserved or received such general recognition. It takes defeat to show the true mettle of a student body, and this year the test has been applied with sufficient severity to be definitive. At Princeton and Harvard there was never a moment's wavering in the support accorded to the losing team. At Princeton, it was so genuine, so unanimous, that even the staid and critical NewYork Post broke forth into enthusiastic approbation of the team that could so gallantly fight a losing battle, and of the College that could so bravely and generously accept defeat. After all, football teams come and go, their immediate record is soon forgotten; but the animating spirit of the college that they represent is pretty likely to remain constant and to be remembered in years to come.